WHO and the United Arab Emirates evacuated 85 patients from Gaza

Today, 85 sick and seriously injured patients from Gaza were evacuated to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for specialized care. This highly complex joint evacuation was supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the Government of the UAE and other partners. This is the largest medical evacuation outside Gaza since October 2023.

“I am extremely grateful to the United Arab Emirates for evacuating sick and seriously injured patients from Gaza and providing them with life-saving medical care,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “This initiative is a clear proof of intra-regional solidarity, which is urgently needed. Support for people in the Region must start from the Region. Thousands of others inside Gaza remain at risk without access to advanced medical care. I call on Member States that can receive and care for more patients to do so.”

Among the patients are 35 children and 50 adults, who were transferred from Gaza via Kerem Shalom to Ramon Airport in Israel, with the support of the World Health Organization. Fifty-three patients have cancer, including 4 children, 20 have traumatic injuries, 3 have blood disorders, including thalassemia, 3 have congenital conditions, 2 have Fanconi anemia, 1 has a neurological condition, 1 has heart disease, 1 has liver disease, and 1 has kidney failure. Sixty-three family members and caregivers followed the patients.

“We are grateful to the United Arab Emirates for supporting the evacuation of these patients to receive the urgent care they need,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We hope this paves the way for the establishment of evacuation corridors via all possible routes, including the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings into Egypt and Jordan, and from there to other countries. We also call for evacuations to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Thousands of sick people are suffering needlessly, and we, as always, call for a ceasefire.

The evacuation, originally scheduled for July 29, has been delayed, adding significant challenges to the operation and diverting scarce resources.

Despite damaged roads, insecurity and risks to their own safety, the WHO team organized and managed the transfer of patients from various areas in Gaza to the Kerem Shalom crossing under extremely demanding conditions.

Prior to the evacuation, WHO and partners transferred 9 patients from northern Gaza to the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) field hospital in Deir al-Balah on 27 July for stabilization and onward movement. Other patients were collected from five locations in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. Some critically injured patients, who had already been moved to the final point of departure in the south, were accommodated and treated at the Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) field hospital in Deir al-Balah, in coordination with WHO, after the mission was postponed. The World Health Organization and the International Medical Corps team have provided medical supplies, electricity, safe water and sanitation to the hospital as it is still being set up.

During the evacuation, the patients underwent a successive transfer to Kerem Shalom, where they boarded buses, organized by the WHO, which, after security checks, headed for the airport. WHO provided wheelchairs to ensure patients could safely change buses at the crossing, organized access to food, water and medical professionals throughout the journey inside Gaza and en route to the airport, and supported patient documentation.

Other partners supporting the evacuation included Cadus and International Medical Corps emergency medical teams, MSF Belgium and PRCS.

As of October 2023, around 5,000 people have been evacuated for treatment outside of Gaza, with more than 80% receiving care in Egypt, Qatar and the UAE. More than 10,000 people in Gaza still need medical evacuation. Today's evacuation follows previous ones to Spain and Belgium from Cairo, coordinated by the WHO. In the past days, twenty patients were evacuated to these countries.

WHO continues to call on the international community to step up efforts to ensure safe, sustainable, timely and organized medical evacuations.